


there’s sun on my skin (i am brand new)

by 2ndtolastrow



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Reunions, at the start of moa, local idiots finally get to hug each other, minor Percabeth, so its got the kiss and subsequent judo-flip in it, this fic is really just an au where jason and reyna get to hug, well like - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:13:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22749895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2ndtolastrow/pseuds/2ndtolastrow
Summary: He smiles that stupid all-American boy smile and Reyna gets soangryfor a second there—she hasn’t seen him in how long and all he’s going to do issmilelike nothing’s gone wrong?And then, of course, it kicks in that this is Jason, that this isJason Graceand he’s here in the morning sun and alive (and she wasn’t sure she’d ever get to see that again for a while).She doesn’t really have any control of the fact that her response is to hug him.
Relationships: Jason Grace & Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	there’s sun on my skin (i am brand new)

**Author's Note:**

> jason and reyna are FRIENDS. let them be FRIENDS and HUG each other ok????
> 
> In all seriousness though, _**warning**_ that Reyna makes several references to the destruction of Circe’s island (which are largely non-graphic)
> 
> title taken from walk the moon’s we are the kids

Reyna has about forty five minutes of warning and about five minutes to actually get nervous when Jason comes back into her life.

She follows Percy (and Frank, and Hazel, and Ella the harpy, and the over-excitable Cyclops Percy called _‘brother’_ ) out of the Senate building, the morning light bright enough to hurt her eyes.

(New Rome is battered and bruised from the recent battle, the normally shining marble cracked and dirty, and a part of her fixes it onto Percy Jackson, foolish as she knows it is. But he has been the cause of the destruction of one of her homes, he is half the reason she was left to pirates, and now he comes to Camp Jupiter just before _this?_

Foolish as it is, there is reason to it.

Just like it makes a certain sort of sense that Jason’s return would be so abrupt, she thinks, watching the Greek warship close in on them from the skies. He’d been ripped from it without any warning either—Reyna had gone down to meet him for their morning spar one day and he hadn’t been there waiting for her. Or in bed, puking his guts out. Or anywhere else.)

Around her, legionnaires and citizens alike come out to stare as the ship closes in. The bronze hull glints in the sunlight. There’s an equally bronze figurehead blocking her view, but if she squints (and hopes a little too much) Reyna can almost see a blond in purple near the bow.

Percy hovers at her side, tucked in between Hazel and Frank. He’s craning his neck, too. She doesn’t feel any better about this.

The ship freezes in its descent as it gets closer, hovering over the city. For a second, Reyna’s back stiffens. Then she realizes Terminus must be up there, and she nearly laughs.

Well, nearly for her. She isn’t sure even Hylla would be able to spot it anymore. Jason was pretty much the only one who could at Camp anym—No one at Camp Jupi—Except Jason was up there, arguing with Terminus.

Reyna stares up at the ship, and smiles.

A moment later, a rope ladder comes over the side.

She watches figures climb down for a moment, then turns to Percy (and, by extension, Hazel and Frank), jerks her head in their direction. He grins in agreement.

The crowd parts in front of her as she walks towards where the Greeks are coming down, and they end up meeting in the middle. She tugs her cloak just a little more into place before the last few people step out of the way, despite the way the sun is burning a hot spot onto her shoulder, the morning all too warm. She has an impression to make, after all. (She hears them before she sees them, in the way people start to murmur _Jason_ and _Praetor Grace_.)

There’s a blonde girl leading the pack, and Reyna’s heart stops in her chest for a second when she recognizes Annabeth Chase—the same harsh, gray eyes, the same dagger at her hip. For a moment, Reyna is a child and the spa is burning around her again, just like when she had first seen Percy.

The moment passes.

She takes in the rest of them—the boy from the message Percy had shown the Senate, a girl with a tank top covered in pictures of a cartoon character, and—Jason. 

He has on an orange T-shirt, the same kind as Annabeth Chase, and his hair is longer and messier than she’s ever seen it, but—with his toga and cloak, with the tattoo on his arm half-visible, with the same little scar on his lip, she can almost pretend he hadn’t gone anywhere.

He smiles that stupid all-American boy smile and Reyna gets so _angry_ for a second there—she hasn’t seen him in how long and all he’s going to do is _smile_ like nothing’s gone wrong? 

And then, of course, it kicks in that this is Jason, that this is _Jason Grace_ and he’s here in the morning sun and alive (and she wasn’t sure she’d ever get to see that again for a while).

She doesn’t really have any control of the fact that her response is to hug him, that she takes two steps forward and—

Annabeth Chase beats her to it. She moves fast, and Reyna freezes in place because she can’t attack her, can’t do something that might jeopardize this.

Which is good, because Annabeth hadn’t been cutting her off from Jason, she’d been grabbing Percy. 

The kiss is hard, desperate, and awkward. 

Reyna barely avoids averting her eyes. 

Then Percy pulls back to say something she couldn’t hear, and Annabeth flips him over her shoulder and pins him to the ground.

The crowd responds in kind, and she yells for them to “Hold! Stand down!” (After all, if this went wrong, it would only take a moment to call them to arms.)

Annabeth snarls out a threat, and Percy laughs. (This feels too intimate to watch, just like the kiss. This wasn’t hers. She still doesn’t look away.)

“I missed you, too,” Percy says, and she gets off of him. 

Then Jason clears his throat, and Reyna remembers he’s _right here_.

He smiles awkwardly, teeth shining and white. "So, yeah… It's good to be back." 

All she’s got left is to follow her first instinct: to grab him and hold him so tight she can feel his ribs pressed against her, to bury her face in his shoulder and breathe in deep. He smells the same (the same too fresh scent like he’s been out in the wind all day, the same sunlight caught in his hair, the same barely there hint of sweat and dirt that’s always followed him around) and different (something almost flowery that you’d never find at Camp Jupiter, the detergent on his shirt isn’t the one they all use). He holds her just as tight, so close it’s almost painful. (She’s almost forgotten what it’s like to hug someone, since he’d been gone.)

Reyna isn’t really sure how long they spend like that, but she does know it’s probably a little too long for the crowd around them (and just when she’d been complaining about Annabeth Chase’s public displays of affection). She wants to stay like this for a little longer, until she can be absolutely certain that Jason is here, that he’s back, that he isn’t going to crumble away under her hands like he has in so many dreams.

Instead, Reyna pulls back, grabbing one of his hands as she does. She raises it high as she turns to face the crowd, refusing to squint against the sun.

“Praetor Grace has returned!” she yells, declares it for all of New Rome to hear, and the crowd roars in approval.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!! Comments, kudos, and the pointing out of typos are always welcome!


End file.
